Purdue Soccer hires Kelsey Brouwer as assistant coach

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Soccer head coach Drew Roff announced that Kelsey Brouwer has joined the staff as an assistant coach and will work with the goalkeepers.

Brouwer comes to Purdue from Tennessee Tech, where she served as assistant coach since 2017. A standout goalkeeper, Brouwer went on to play professionally after earning conference defensive player of the year accolades.

“We are thrilled to have Kelsey join our coaching staff,” Roff said. “She is talented and ambitious, and she is ready for the next step in her coaching career. Her ability to develop strong relationships and challenge goalkeepers to reach their potential make her a tremendous asset to our program.”

Brouwer starred at Middle Tennessee from 2012-15, where she was named the 2015 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year, was a team captain and earned the C-USA Spirit of Service Award. She played professionally for FC Kansas City and Apollon Ladies F.C. in Limassol, Cyprus.

“I am so excited to join Coach Roff and his staff and am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to become a part of this well-respected soccer program,” Brouwer said. “I look forward to helping this team compete for championships and contribute to the strong foundation they have built.

“I’d like to thank Tennessee Tech Athletics for the memorable and formative three years. Head coach Steve Springthorpe and associate head coach Corey Boyd took a chance on me when returning from playing overseas, and I was able to grow as a coach and foster unforgettable relationships with players. My time in Cookeville prepared me for this next challenge, and I’ll be forever grateful. My husband and I look forward to calling West Lafayette home and joining the Purdue family.”

As assistant coach at Tennessee Tech from 2017-19, Brouwer coached the goalkeepers, a unit that regularly ranked among the best in the Ohio Valley Conference. That included a 2017 OVC Defensive Player of the Year honor for Kari Naerdemann, who allowed a program-best eight goals, besting the previous school mark by five. Under Brouwer’s guidance, Naerdemann also set the team record for goals against average, with a mark of 0.45 in 2017, and broke the TTU record for career wins, shutouts, goals-against average and save percentage.

Brouwer’s responsibilities at Tennessee Tech also included coordinating team travel, on-campus visits, alumni events and community service in addition to recruiting and camps.

Since 2017, Brouwer also has served as a goalkeeper coach for the Tennessee State Soccer Association’s Olympic Development Program and was the head coach and goalkeeping director for the Upper Cumberland United Soccer & All-IN FC.

Brouwer was a volunteer assistant coach at Drake University in 2016. The Bulldogs went 12-4-3 with Brouwer on staff, and the goalkeepers led the conference in fewest goals allowed, goals-against average and shutouts.

Brouwer was the starting goalkeeper in the 2016 UEFA Women’s Champions League for Apollon Ladies F.C., where she helped guide her club to the round of 32. She also spent time playing for FC Kansas City in 2016.

As a student-athlete at Middle Tennessee, Brouwer started nine matches as a freshman to help lead the Blue Raiders to a Sun Belt Conference regular-season title. She proceeded to start every match the next three years. As a senior in 2015, Brouwer was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-Conference USA First Team after she posted an .876 save percentage, second-best in team history, and made 113 saves, No. 4 all-time. She also had 10 shutouts to break her own school record of seven, which she set as a junior the previous year.

Brouwer graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2015, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, majoring in management and minoring in business administration. Brouwer earned her master’s degree in business administration from Tennessee Tech in 2019. She is married to Vincent Okot.

Brouwer joins a Purdue soccer program that will feature all eleven starters from the 2019 season returning to the pitch in 2020, including every minute played in goal. Eighty-seven percent (46 of 53) of the Boilermakers’ points scored last season are back. Purdue is coming off a 2019 campaign where they earned a Big Ten tournament berth and a spot in the semifinals thanks to a quarterfinals victory at top-seeded and No. 7-ranked Wisconsin.

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